Cat paw print discovered on Gloucester Roman roof tile

Blackleaf

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A paw print made by a cat in Roman times has been discovered on a 2,000 year old roof tile in Gloucester.

It was dug up in Berkeley Street in 1969 but the footprint has only just been discovered.

Cat paw print discovered on Gloucester Roman roof tile


28 July 2015
BBC News


The paw print is thought to have been made in about AD100


A paw print made by a cat in Roman times has been discovered on a 2,000 year old roof tile in Gloucester.

It was dug up in Berkeley Street in 1969 but the footprint has only just been discovered.

The print was found by an archaeologist at Gloucester City Museum who was examining thousands of fragments of Roman roof tile.

The cat is thought to have sneaked across the wet tiles which were drying in the sun in about AD100.

The tile, a type called tegula, was used on the roof of a building in what became the Berkeley Street area of modern Gloucester, a spokesman said.

Councillor Lise Noakes, from Gloucester City Council, said it was a "fascinating discovery".

"Dog paw prints, people's boot prints and even a piglet's trotter print have all been found on tiles from Roman Gloucester, but cat prints are very rare," she said.


Berkeley Street, Gloucester


Cat paw print discovered on Gloucester Roman roof tile - BBC News
 

tay

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You mean they were cats around that long ago?


Fascinating...........
 

Blackleaf

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You mean they were cats around that long ago?


Fascinating...........


The domestic cat (Felis catus) is thought to have been domesticated in Ancient Egypt, where it was venerated. However, there may have been instances of domestication as early as the Neolithic from around 9,500 years ago (7,500 BC). The domestic cat was introduced to the Roman Republic by the first century BC. So there were domestic cats in Roman Britain.

The modern English word "cat" comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for the animal - "catt" - which itself came from the Latin "cattus" and Byzantine Greek "κάττα."